“What is all this love for if we have to walk into the dark?” (M.R. James)
This is no country for old women
Scavenging among the shops of younger
Birds feathered-fit for triumphalist high-fives
Impatient of scarecrow’s creaking shoes, masked
Grimace reaching for a tin on a grocer’s shelf.
Pain exacts through sickness and age
Its own price, even as we gingerly kneel
To find the lisolia of those now lost to sight,
Praying hands held aloft, clasping light
In the aftergloom of laughter’s ghosts.
In the heartmoor of these days and nights
Visions appear, and I press forward into the dark
Of words that like crumbs from the children’s table
Fall upon me, as manna, as showers, as stories
Of love that even scarecrows can laugh to tell.
Linda at dVerse asks us to choose one or more words from a list of neologisms to write a poem. Click on Mr. Linky and join in! I've chosen "heartmoor," "aftergloom" and "lisolia," definitions of which are given in The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows: Aftergloom: the pang of loneliness you feel the day after an intensely social event, as the glow of voices and laughter fades into a somber quiet. Heartmoor: the primal longing for a home village to return to, a place that no longer exists, if it ever did. Lisolia: the satisfaction of things worn down by time, broken in baseball mitts, the shiny snout of a lucky bronze pig, or footprints ground deep into floorboards by generations of kneeling monks.
Dreams from a Pilgrimage 
I like those stories of love at the end that even scarecrows can laugh to tell.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Wonderful…but that first stanza..shocking, amazing…what description, and how true …impatient if scarecrow’s creaking shoes…what imagery..a poem that absolutely gets the feeling to the reader, the message.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m in love with the imagery here, Dora, you never fail to weave such a tale that leaves your reader wanting more. I feel adrift when reading this, as in the beginning, it felt as if the narrator didn’t quite find their peace or place at this point in time or life, and at the end, there’s something to look to in the future, hope perhaps. Such a beautifully written poem, always amazed by you. 🙂
LikeLike
Fantastic!! 😀
LikeLike
What a simply beautiful poem Dora.
LikeLike
“I press forward into the dark of words that like crumbs from the children’s table,”.. this is such an amazingly powerful write, Dora!
LikeLike
Beauty, simplicity, brevity, and clarity–these are the offspring of your words, and the poem you whelped has energy and flow.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Lovely poem, Dora, I like they way you interweave the prompt words.
This is no country for old women
Scavenging among the shops of younger
Birds feathered-fit for triumphalist high-fives
Impatient of scarecrow’s creaking shoes, masked
Grimace reaching for a tin on a grocer’s shelf.
These opening lines really resonate..JIM
LikeLike
I admire the rhythm and flow of emotions of your lines. I felt the hope rising specially in the last stanza. Love your poem Dora.
LikeLike
The juxtaposition of crumbs on the table and scarecrows laughter is amazing
Bravo
Much💟love
LikeLike
Oh my, what an amazing tapestry of words that describe things so accurately!
LikeLike
Oh gosh, Dora. I could o relate to this. That opening line was awesome, playing on the book/movie title. And the younger birds, younger all the time, it seems, and full of an unfocused energy I don’t have on my best day, at least not physically.
Then your poem considers things and people who have come and gone, and the feeling of saudade that’s left in their wake. It’s heart-piercing, familiar, dear too. And finally your scarecrow, shining through as they used to say. Lovely, sad, beautiful stuff, my friend.
LikeLike
Such a beautiful piece Dora. Love the imagery you’ve created and the uplifting note on which you ended.
LikeLike
‘words that like crumbs from the children’s table
Fall upon me, as manna,’
I think you love words as much as I do, Dora 🙂
LikeLike
Dorah, you deserve much more than crumbs! I would be glad to make you a sandwich!
🥪
David
LikeLike
I read this and hear the Scripture, “blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” The trappings of consumer might wear terribly thin these days – especially with shelves so bare — the crumbs from the children’s table are all the poetry needs. I’m glad you noted meanings for the obscure words, much more helpful to the reader than making work of inserting them and making the surrounding text do the heavy lifting. (Not your fault at all, but the challenge really doesn’t work for poetry.)
LikeLike
You capture the mood of the challenge words perfectly, and the feeling and mood reflect the ones they embody, which the larger world also seems to embody these days. I especially like the ending.which finds light and love in darkness, the triumph of meaning and the heart over the war that isolation and disaster are waging.
LikeLike
Wonderful poem Dora. Your words do fall like manna – giving sustenance to the reader. And the words from Linda’s selection fit so perfectly, adding their own poetry.
LikeLike
That opening line was awesome and what followed was equally beautiful. And that ending…your words are manna for your readers, Dora. ❤️
LikeLike
I love how you wrote this, with that first line referring to Mc Cormack… the way we treat aging and pain, leaving people in the shadows, where in the end there is some semblance of light to be found
LikeLike
I really like what you did with this prompt, Dora…brava!
LikeLike
Sometimes my life steps onto maturity’s avenue where I haven’t been before. As my wife reminds me, there are times when I need to ask someone for directions.
LikeLike
Fine Poem, I see you have been reading William Butler Yeats lately
LikeLike
super ending “Of love that even scarecrows can laugh to tell.”
LikeLike
What an opening: “This is no country for old women”
This poem is looking forward to the life to come!
LikeLike
It is indeed.
LikeLiked by 1 person
💚💚🙌🙌🤲🤲
LikeLike
Light always accompanies the sorrows, even if we can’t always see it. (K)
LikeLike
Your depiction of the creaking of joints and the way everything seems so difficult is heartfelt. I agree with Brendan that the sentiments would have been better served by words we all know. The prompt words create a distance of intentional obscurity which I think lessens the impact of your ‘real’ words.
LikeLike
that first line grabs one by the throat, and the rest of the pen never lets go.
fine line breaks, too ~
LikeLike